[Story] 'Lost'

Ahnaf Abdullah - 'Lost' - 'Very Good!' by Fariha Rabbani
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My name will be Carlos. I will be born a few thousand years in the future. I will be famous in my era for being the first person to travel backwards to the past. I will also be remembered for being a victim to the dangerous and unrelenting claws of time.

I had travelled backwards a few thousand years into time. But the most heinous and worst possible thing that could happen, happened. The Time Capsule, the only device that can get me back to my time blew up. I could have repaired the capsule on my own. But at the time I had come in, I would be quite lucky to find people using Roman Numerals and speaking in a decipherable language.

I was doomed to an eternity of seeing history repeat itself. According to the relative laws of Time and Space, your conscience can not end after the natural death of your body, until you come to the point where you got into the past.

Rather than dwelling on my imminent but far away death, I decided to not be gloomy and make my own tools with my vast resources of knowledge. I found a wonderful and large town, called Shambolla. There, I managed to bond with the town, but as discreetly as possible, for I could not, and can't afford to alter its future.

I arranged for my basic supplies and tools to fix my time capsule. I smelted iron ore provided by my friendly neighbour to make iron tools. I then used my crafted iron tools and a crude form of electricity to start up my capsule. It was a great success, achieved only in two months.

I saw a figure lurking around me as I worked, it turned out to be a scholar, who seemed interested in me and my late night work. Her name was Selena, and she knew quite a lot about crude technology and was interested to learn more. I liked her curiosity and ability to think out of the box, and, as she calls it, I took her as an apprentice.

I trusted her, as weeks passed, and told her about my past, and her future. She was a bright and brilliant student, and I taught her about the Universe, the physical laws it works by, and she was able to take it all in, becoming more knowledgeable than everyone around her by at least a factor of a millenia.

I don't know how it happened, but unbelievably, my time capsule was repaired. I thanked my lucky stars, and was in a joyous mood, wishing good luck to the enormously friendly and compassionate townspeople. I was almost about to leave, when I felt like something was missing.

I called up Selena and asked her whether she'd love to join my time in the past. I couldn't imagine going back without her, and if I never met her, I seriously doubt that I could have repaired my capsule. She said yes, and we went back into my present time, a whole new range of possibilities opening up for both of us.